County OKs deputies' contract.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

Lane County commissioners approved a 2-year contract with sheriff's deputies this week, bringing a comparatively smooth end to negotiations with most of the county's unions at a time when rising health care costs can cause strife.

The contract with the 300-member Lane County Peace Officers Association was one of five up for renewal at the county last July 1. Three of the others have been settled and talks on the fourth have yet to begin; contracts with the remaining two unions end next July 1.

The county and its unions started talks in April, just after Lane Transit District and its bus drivers ended a fierce battle over a new contract. The LTD dispute included a 10-month stalemate and a weeklong strike before labor experts intervened to forge an agreement.

The county and the transit district both face the challenge of fast-rising health-care costs, but one county negotiator said a number of factors helped the county avoid contentious talks.

Frank Forbes, the county's labor relations manager, said the increase in health care costs for 2005-2006 was smaller than expected - 8 percent, or about 9 percentage points lower than predicted earlier this year - which allowed the county to sweeten other elements of the offers to the unions.

He also credited workers for agreeing to pay more for health care and to forgo bigger raises in return for more money from the county for retirement.

The workers covered by the peace officers association will get only one cost-of-living increase - 2 percent of salary - for the two-year deal.

Before the increase, the salary range for sheriff's deputies, not counting benefits, was $39,000 to $52,400.

In addition, the county will contribute 2 percent of salary to a retirement account through next July 1, and then replace that contribution with a payment of 6 percent of salary to retirement at that point through the end of the contract in June 2007.

A spokesperson for the peace officers association did not return a phone call from The Register-Guard seeking comment.

State law mandates that either the state or the employee make those 6 percent payments to retirement accounts, Forbes said. The county agreed to take on that cost as part of negotiations. The benefit will help the county hire and retain good workers, he said.

The payments, which are administered through the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, or PERS, will go to a worker's Individual Account Program for the four unions that wanted them.

The county can absorb the cost because it won't pay as much in cost-of-living increases, which also raise the county's cost for retirement benefits, overtime, life insurance and Social Security, Forbes said. None of those increases with the payments to the individual accounts, he noted.

The unions also accepted higher deductibles for health insurance, Forbes said. The peace officers association, for example, agreed to double what it pays, to $100 per member or $300 per family.

Higher deductibles mean a lower price to the county for health care. That's because employees may choose to have fewer services and, at any rate, they pay for a larger share of services - with the larger deductible - before the county starts picking up costs.

The total cost of the two-year package for the association, which includes juvenile group workers in the Department of Youth Services, is $51.7 million, up $2 million from the prior contract, budget manager Dave Garnick said.

Forbes acknowledged that the increase may mean changes to county services, depending on future health-care and personnel costs.

"That's the climate we find ourselves in today, because our revenues don't go up very fast," he said.

The county has already settled with its largest union - the 600-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - as well as AFSCME Nurses and the Lane County Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

The county and the Parole and Probation Officers union can't settle a new contract to replace one that expired June 30 until the state Employment Relations Board determines who will represent the union, Forbes said.

Contracts expire June 30, 2006, for the Lane County Public Works Association, Local 626, and the Administrative-Professional Association of Lane County Public Works.